Door frame and sill therefor



Aug. 11, 1959 Filed April 19, 1956 H. A. ETLING DOOR FRAME AND SILLTHEREFOR I /f A? Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

1959 H. A. ETLING 2,898,642

I DOOR FRAME AND SILL THEREFOR Filed April 19. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2F/F-fi V i /40 75-5 44 J4 07 J3 4/ J2 o o 4? ii J0) INVENTOR.

HHFULJ H F 72/175 29m $6M United States Patent DOOR FRAlVIE AND SILLTHEREFOR Harold A. Etling, Marshallville, Ohio, assignor t0Weather-Seal, -Inc., Summit County, Ohio, :1 corporation of OhioApplication April 19, 1956, Serial No. 579,380 4 Claims. (CI. 20-11 Thisinvention relates to door frames and sills for building construction andis especiallyuseful in the construction of outside door openings where awater shedding heavy sill is necessary.

Herctofore in the construction of frame buildings, it has been customaryto lay the box sills and floor jo'ists and then to lay a sub fioor ofboards thereover. The wall and partition framing is then constructed andseated upon the sub-floor. Outside door casings areusually factoryconstructed and comprises a pair of jambs morticed to receive a headerand a sill mounted therebetween. It has been the practice to chop' awaythe subfloor and the top of the box sill to provide clearance for thedoor sill with the result that the door sill has not had proper supportthroughout its length and the subfloor was weakened adjacent thedoorway. Lack of proper support results in loosening of the sillrelative to the jambs and settling, rotting, warping and cracking of thesill result. Furthermore the chopping away of the sub-structure is aneedless waste of time.

. The present invention aims to overcome the foregoing and otherdifiiculties.

. It is an object of the invention to provide an outside door sill whichcan be employed in framing a door opening without weakening thesub-floor or other substructure.

Another object is to provide a sill which is firmly supported by thesub-structure throughout the width of the door opening.

Further objects are to conserve labor, to provide a superior buildingstructure, and to relieve the jambs fro shear loads. 1

These and other objects will appear from the following description andthe accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an outside doorway with the sill inplace;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view thereof, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a section of the sill as viewed frombelow;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the lower end of a door jamb morticed toreceive the sill of Fig. 3, the remainder of the jamb being broken away;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing a modified construction;and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modificationof the door sill and threshold.

Referring to the drawings, and first to Fig. 1, this shows a doorwaywith a door 10 mounted therein, the doorway lbeing framed by studdingand headers (not shown) to which are secured the door frame comprising apair of jambs 11, a header 12, and a sill 13. The jambs and headerextend outwardly flush with the sheathing and outer casing boards 14,and 16 are secured over their margins. The siding 17 abuts the outercasings. The door 10 is hung in a rabbet 18 (see Fig.

2,898,642 Patented Aug. 195 9 ice 4) provided about the door opening atthe inner margin of the frame.

With reference to Fig. 2, the building includes joists 19 and a box sillheader 20 over which a sub-floor 21 is laid.

The sill 13 of this invention is adapted to provide adequate drainageand support from the sub-floor 21 or other underlying substructure andfor this purpose has an inclined upper or tread face 25 which slopesoutwardly of the building, a lower inclined face 22 parallel to theupper face 25, and vertical edge faces 23 and 24. To provide for seatingthe sill on the level sub-floor or other sub-structure, a rabbet 26 isformed in the lower side of the sill and has a horizontal face27 and avertical face 28, the horizontal face being adapted to rest throughoutits extent upon the upper face of the sub floor 21 and the vertical face28 resting against the outer margin thereof flush with the box sill. Thefinish floor 29 is laid over the sub-floor with the frame in place andabutting the sill. A threshold 30 is mounted over the joint between thesill and the finish floor and as the finish floor is usually lower thanthe sill, the threshold is rabbeted to provide a lower seating face 31for resting over the floor and an upper seating face 32 for resting upona level margin 33 formed on the sill. The threshold is preferablyploughed between the two seats to provide a clearance space 34. Marginsof the threshold are chamfered as at 35 and 36 'to' meet the floorsurface and the upper face of the sill respectively;

While the sill of the invention may be mountedin the opening and thejambs and header may then be fitted thereover, better practice is toprovide these parts in an assembled frame in which the ends ofthe headerand the sill are fitted in rabbets or mortices provided in the jambs asthis practice assures that the frame is properly squared in the openingand that the jambswill not spring inwardly and bind on the door.

This practice also providessome support at thewends of the sill andspaces the sill and header vertically.- l r Asthe sill of this inventionis somewhat morecomplicated in cross sectional shape, the jambs requirecomplementary mortices to receive it. Such a mortice is shown in Fig.4'and it will be noted that the lower margin 37 is square with the jamband may be cut through from margin to margin of the jamb. Also that theupper margin 38 is uniformly inclined across all of the face of the jambexcept at the rabbet 18, and in fact may be cut entirely acrossresulting in a slight space at the door rabbet 18 which will be coveredby the threshold. The corner 39 may be removed by routing. With the sillin the mortice, the jambs are nailed to the ends of the sill and theheader.

Where it is desired to simplify machining operations, a modifiedconstruction, illustrated in Fig. 5, may be employed. Here the jamb 40is ploughed to a uniform depth across the face of the jamb at theinclination of the sill providing parallel margins 41 and 42. A wedge 43is then made of size and shape to fill the rabbet 26 of the sill andtacked in place as shown. The space remaining in the ploughed rabbetwill closely fit the end of the sill except in the region of the rabbet44 for fitting the door. At this position a slight wedge shaped spacewill exist which could be filled with a wedge. However, the thresholdcovers this space and the sill is well supported so that this space doesno harm.

Furthermore, when the jambs are ploughed as in Fig. 5, the sill may bemade as shown at 13 in Fig. 3 except that the horizontal surface 33 maybe omitted and the inclined surface 25 continued entirely across theupper out therebetween to accommodate the inclined margin of the sill.The lower ends of the jambs are madeto drop below the sill as seen inFigs. 4 and 5 to provide some support for the sill from the jambs and toproperly space the sill from the -header. In mounting thedoorframe,these may preferably be left in place and notches cut inthesub-floonmargin to clear them. The subfioor between these notcheswill support the sill entirely across the space between the jambs.

Variations may be made without departing from the scope of the inventionas it is defined by the following claims.

Iclaim: p

1. In a door frame construction, a door sill, jamb members having theirinwardly exposed faces ploughed on an incline. to receive the ends ofsaid sill, said sill having upper and lower faces similarly inclineddownwardly and outwardly of-the frame, the lower surface of said sillhaving a rabbet formed therein throughout its length and. defined by alevel horizontal rabbet face for supporting the sill from asub-structure, and a ver tical rabbet face for abutting a verticalmargin of the substructure, and wedge means secured to said jarnbmembers on the lower surfaces of said ploughed incline to providehorizontal and vertical support surfaces for engaging the rabbettedsurfaces of said sill.

2. In combination, a building having a sub-floor therein, said buildinghaving an outside doorway therein, a door sill supported on saidsub-floor at said doorway, said door sill having a stepped lower surfaceadapted to engage the sub-floor at the edge thereof and protrudeoutwardly therefrom, said door sill having a horizontal top surfacesection at the top inner edge thereof, which top surface slantsdownwardly and forwardly from such horizontal section, said buildinghaving a finished floor therein abutting on said door sill, and athreshold supported at the front margin thereof at the forward margin ofsaid horizontal section of said door sill, the rear edge of saidthreshold protruding downwardly over a corner of said door sill toengage said finished floor and be supported thereon.

3. In combination, a building having a sub-floor therein, said buildinghaving an outside doorway therein, a

door sill supported on said sub-floor at said doorway, said door sillhaving a fiat bottom surface terminating in a downwardly directed edgesection forming a right angled corner with said bottom surface, whichcorner engages the upper corner edge of said sub-floor at said doorwayand overhang said sub-floor, said door sill having a horizontal topsurface section at the top inner edge thereof, which top surface slantsdownwardly and forwardly from such horizontal section, said buildinghaving a finished floor therein abutting on said door sill, and athreshold supported at the front margin thereof at the forward margin ofsaid horizontal section of said'door sill, the rear edge of saidthreshold protruding downwardly over a corner of said door sill toengage said finished floor and be supported thereon, the top surface ofsaid finished floor being below the top surface of said door sill.

4. In combination, a building having a wallwith-an outside door opening,a sub-floor extendingthroughsaid opening to the outer face of the wall,a door frame in said opening having a sill extending over and supportedthroughout its length by said sub-floor, said sill havin a stepped lowersurface including a horizontal section adapted to rest directly on saidsub-floor at the margin thereof and to protrude outwardly and downwardlytherefrom, said sill having an outwardly sloping top surface, saidbuilding having a finished floor therein abutting on said door sill anda threshold supported at the front margins thereof at the forward marginof said horizontal section of said sill, the rear edge of said thresholdprotruding downwardly over a corner of said door sill to engage saidfinished floor and be supported thereon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSRe.21,001 Beil et al. Feb. 14, 1939 718,926 Gauron Jan. 20, 19031,700,152 Beck Ian. 29, 1929 1,917,845 Kemp July 11, 1933 1,995,233Triller Mar. 19, 1935 2,823,429 Grant Feb. 18, 1958

